CHAPTER IX. 



KNOWLEDGE OF COUNTRY. 



A KNOWLEDGE of country is indispensable in bushcraft, and so one should 

 continually exercise oneself in it. 



There are two operations which might well be compared to strategy and 

 tactics respectively. 



The former is to be able to find one's way about the theatre of operations, back to 

 camp or to a previous camp ; and the latter is, on having sighted the game you wish to 

 stalk, to so mark down his position and take in the best method of approach that you 

 may come up with him or near where he was standing, sometimes after a long detour 

 and perhaps without ever getting a second view of him to guide your course. 



In the former operation one is guided in hilly country mostly by landmarks, and 

 in flat bush country by the sun, direction of prevailing winds, the belts and clumps 

 of trees of different kinds met with, outcrops of rock or changes in the nature of the 

 soil, the roll and trend of the country, dry river beds, &c., and at night by the stars. 



To know the time taken in marching between two points is infinitely more useful 

 in flat than hilly country. For instance, you may be returning to a spot by a route 

 you have not traversed before, having marched two sides of a triangle. You know 

 the approximate distance, and may be going to fix your position by a belt of 

 acacia you have passed going out. If you come to a belt several hours too soon, it, 

 will help you to decide that this is not the right one. 



In the operations we have likened to tactics, one is guided by the shape and 

 kind of individual trees, the conformation of the ground, and the direction of the 

 wind then blowing (if constant). 



It will be seen that for both these operations a knowledge of the different kinds 

 of trees met with is essential. 



It will be simpler to learn these under their native names, for which reason we 

 have always referred to them by those names most widely understood by the natives 

 of these parts. (See introduction to Part II.) 



The trees which are found in different parts of the country, at different altitudes, 

 and those which grow on different kinds of soil, should be noted, those which only 

 grow near big rivers and lakes being especially useful. 



